Meals for the Week – Paleo Comfort Some More!

Meals for the Week – Paleo Comfort Foods Style #3

You ever have one of those days when the kitchen just wasn’t calling your name and the thought of grabbing take-out Thai, or running out to eat at your local Mexican joint, or indulging a bit at your favorite neighborhood bistro sounded about 435% more tempting than cooking or reheating leftovers? Yeah, we had a lot of those days this past week, and were oh-so-tempted…but I can tell you that we felt about 894% (these are all very precise numbers) better (and saved some cash too) by focusing on what we had on hand and choosing to eat things where we could control every single ingredient that went into the preparation. Not to mention the fact that this way we were certain not to waste food. Here’s an interesting (but old) infographic about food waste. Does your household waste 10+ pounds of meat and fish and 24 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables PER MONTH? I sure hope not (though I suppose if you’re going to waste something, it’s okay with the grains and sugar?).

Average American Household Food Waste

We know that sometimes life does get a little crazy and it’s really tempting to go get that takeout and steer clear of your kitchen. And sometimes, that is the best you can do. You do all have Robb’s guide on dining out, right? As someone who lived on the road for more weeks than we can count, Robb has been there, done that when it comes to how to eat Paleo on the road. If you are someone who struggles with how to eat Paleo away from home, get this guide!

All that aside, if you do some “big cook-ups” even on just one day, this can and will seriously limit the amount of times or meals you are tempted to eat out. Despite all that was going on in our lives this past week, we did manage to eat almost all of our meals at home (except for one night when friends brought over food).

In our past Meals for the Week posts on Robb’s site (here and here), we gave you some ideas on what to cook to for the week and how to go about planning your meals, based loosely on how we roll in our house. This week, we’re telling you exactly what we cooked, when we cooked it, when we ate it…all while giving you a few recipes of your own. This is not to say that you can’t change things up how you see fit in your household – whether that means cooking EVERYTHING on one day during the week, or doing a lot more cooking throughout the week. Totally up to you!

Let’s change things up a bit and first tell you what all was on the menu this week and how many meals each item yielded. We’ll focus on the protein, since some of our meals were light on the veggies or fruits, but mostly protein and fat. Not out of any desire to be super low carb – it was just because that’s how things went!

– Our Fried Chicken Tenders (6 servings) – recipe will be up on our blog this coming week! And they are nut free!

As you can see, these protein sources actually amounted to more than 42 meals…and it does not take into consideration any takeout or eating out meals. This means we get a jump start on the following week, and can freeze some of our leftovers and cook even less next week! Sweet.
For our side dishes, here’s what all we made:

Dinner – Ribs with broccoli salad. I whipped up the broccoli salad in no time flat.

DAY 3:

Breakfast – Pot roast. That’s right, we eat pot roast for breakfast!

Lunch – Ribs, kale salad and ½ sweet potato

Dinner – Burger with broccoli salad

DAY 4:

Breakfast – eggs and bacon with avocado.

Lunch – pot roast and mashed cauliflower.

Dinner – Chicken tenders with curried noodles (recipe is in the new book!).

DAY 5:

Breakfast – sausage and sweet potato hash

Lunch – Burger with broccoli salad

Dinner – Take out!

DAY 6:

Breakfast – Eggs sautéed with curried noodles

Lunch – ribs and mashed cauliflower

Dinner – sloppy joes with garlic cabbage noodles (recipe for the noodles is in the new book – on store shelves Tuesday, Sept. 24!)

DAY 7:

Breakfast – sausage and sweet potato hash

Lunch – sloppy joes and garlic cabbage noodles

Dinner – chicken tenders and curried noodles

A few notes: so the most we ate any single recipe in a week was 3 times. Knowing that there are 21 meals in a week, 3 times of any one dish is very reasonable even for those of us who love variety! With the exception of some side dishes, the only other time we did cooking of protein (aside from quick eggs in the morning) was on day 6.

PaleoComfort

Julie and Charles Mayfield are the co-authors of Paleo Comfort Foods, Quick and Easy Paleo Comfort Foods and the e-book The Paleo Summer Survival Guide. They live in Smyrna Georgia with their two children, Scott and Adelyn. The Mayfields have been living the paleo lifestyle for over 5 years and are committed to exposing friends, family and clients to the benefits of cooking and eating real food.

Charles is the owner of Atlanta Strength and Conditioning and holds a FMS, SFG, USAW Level 1 Coach, MovNat & Crossfit certification. He specializes in optimal health training for sustained fat loss and longevity. Julie is a stay at home mother of two and perennial volunteer with Camp Sunshine, an oncology camp for children in Atlanta.

They both enjoy the outdoors, gardening and helping others in their community find a clear path to a healthy lifestyle.

Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Paleo Transformation

Have you heard about the Paleo diet and were curious about how to get started? Or maybe you’ve been trying Paleo for a while but have questions or aren’t sure what the right exercise program is for you? Or maybe you just want a 30-day meal plan and shopping list to make things easier? Then Robb Wolf’s 30 Day Paleo Transformation is for you.

Comments

Yum! What a delicious week! I must tell you that your first cookbook, Paleo Comfort Foods, is one of the best Paleo cookbooks published, and the one I use the most–great recipes, great flavors, and (most importantly) proper cooking technique explained clearly. I’ll be adding your newest cookbook to my library ASAP.

ROBB WOLF, author of The Paleo Solution, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.